The Mighty Eighth Podcast

Nov 11 2024 12 ep. 47 mins 38
The Mighty Eighth Podcast artwork

Amazing True Stories about the People, Planes & Places of the US Eighth Army Air Force during World War Two
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No man left behind: the story of Little Boy Blue

Nov 11 2024 49 mins  
It was a mission which started just like any other: but it ended when the B-17 Flying Fortress "Little Boy Blue" crashed into a farmer's field in Suffolk, England.Eight of the ten air crew were killed that day – and 80 years on, we join their families in that very same field to honour their memory.We speak to Brian Cracknell – one of the last remaining eye-witnesses of the Litt

Fighter Escort: The P-51 Mustang

Jun 02 2024 47 mins  
Just how much of a game changer was the North American P-51 Mustang fighter plane in the battle for air supremacy in the skies over Europe?We find out in this episode, with a visit to Bottisham Airfield Museum – home to the 361st Fighter Group in Cambridgeshire.We look at the development of the Mustang – and how an American airframe matched with a Rolls Royce Merlin engine

Night of the Intruders

Apr 27 2024 47 mins  
In this episode, we tell the story of the Night of the Intruders, when Luftwaffe fighters followed a stream of American B-24 Liberator bombers back to England and shot them out of the sky as they tried to land.It was a disastrous end to Mission 311, which took place on 22 April, 1944, less than two months before D-Day.The raid saw 824 Mighty Eighth bombers target the nerve centre o

Target Berlin

Mar 06 2024 48 mins  
In this episode, we tell the story of the first American daylight bombing raid over Berlin, which took place on March 4, 1944.The mission was led by the 95th Bomb Group – the only Eighth Air Force Bomb Group to receive the Distinguished Unit Citation three times.We visit the Red Feather Club at Horham in Suffolk – including the Blue Lounge dance hall, Brad's Bar and the 95th Bo

Battle of the Bombers

Feb 13 2024 49 mins  
In this episode, we visit the American Air Museum at Duxford for a hotly contested debate: which was the best WW2 heavy bomber?Was it the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress or was it the Consolidated B-24 Liberator?The museum is home to the biggest collection of American military aircraft on public display outside the USA.And it is the only place in the UK where you can stand side by side

Masters of the Air

Jan 21 2024 45 mins  
The 100th Bomb Group is probably the most famous bomb group of them all – and the focus of the Stephen Spielberg / Tom Hanks TV mini-series Masters of the Air.Nicknamed the Bloody Hundredth, it had a 'bad luck' reputation, sustaining heavy losses of men and planes on numerous disastrous missions.But just how unlucky was the 100th Bomb Group? What is myth? And what is the truth?In

'Everything that will fly'

Dec 21 2023 47 mins  
The 'maximum effort' mission on Christmas Eve 1944 was the biggest ever by the Eighth Air Force.This was the Mighty Eighth's 760th mission – with 2,046 heavy bombers and 853 fighters taking to the sky.It meant "everything that can fly, will fly" as the USAAF entered the Battle of the Bulge to protect Allied troops from the Nazi war machine.It was the biggest air armada ever seen

The Pathfinder Mystery

Nov 24 2023 38 mins  
In this episode, we visit the crash site of a top-secret B-17 Flying Fortress which went down soon after take-off in November 1943.The B-17F Flying Fortress 42-5793 was among the most secret aircraft of its kind – one of the first American bombers fitted with a new type of radar.The plane crashed only minutes into what should have been a flight from Thorpe Abbots, in Norfolk

Schweinfurt-Regensburg - August 17, 1943

Aug 17 2023 49 mins  
It was the Mighty Eighth's most ambitious mission yet: a twin-strike into the heart of Nazi Germany.This dual-pronged raid on August 17, 1943, saw more than 350 B-17 bombers despatched to bomb the cities of Schweinfurt and Regensburg.The goal was to strike a major blow against the Nazi war machine by taking out three ball-bearing factories at Schweinfurt and the Messerschmidt facto

The Ultimate Sacrifice

Jun 09 2023 50 mins  
In this episode, we pay tribute to the thousands of Americans who made the ultimate sacrifice during World War Two while fighting for freedom.We do so by visiting Cambridge American Cemetery in eastern England, which commemorates almost 9,000 American personnel.We tell the stories of some of those men and women who are buried here – and those listed on the Wall of the Missing.We